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T-Craft." Seabasing will be used by the armed forces to build floating bases in areas in which formal ground bases cannot be established. The goal is for production vessels that utilize the T-Craft technologies to be used as sea base connectors, transporting wheeled and tracked vehicles through the surf zone and then onto the beach. The craft will have four modes of operation: open ocean transit mode, transfer cargo at the sea base, sprint, and an amphibious mode to travel over sand bars and mud flats to deliver cargo to the beach. Alion's ship is approximately 280 x 80 ft. wide with a full load displacement of about 2,000 metric tons. It will have a top speed in excess of 40 knots and will carry 500 tons or the equivalent of six M-1A2 tanks. Foundation and a $300,000 Young Investigator Program (YIP) Award from the Office of Naval Research. McCue is developing tools to help ship designers better understand ship motions and, thus, help prevent capsizing and other dangers resulting from vessel instabilities. One of the primary objectives of McCue's research is to develop an understanding of large-amplitude ship motions. "By arriving at mathematical approximations for the boundary between stability and capsize, we will have a better physical understanding of vessel behaviors," she said. Another objective is to validate computer simulations of nonlinear largeamplitude ship motions, which can lead to instability. "Ship instabilities are often viewed as a binary issue - either a vessel will capsize or won't capsize," McCue said. "So it's important to ensure that a computer simulation is more accurate and physically relevant than something like a coin toss." Also, McCue says she aims to develop
Braemer Lengthened at Blohm + Voss Repair
The cruise ship Braemer (19,089 gt/ex-Crown Dynasty) entered the Elbe 17 Dock at Blohm + Voss Repair on May 13 for lengthening and other conversion work. The ship, which belongs to the Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines will be lengthened by 31.2 m amidships at the Hamburg shipyard. Braemer is the second cruise ship from Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines to be lengthened at Blohm + Voss Repair, following the conversion of the Balmoral between November 2007 and January 2008. The new 31.20 m-long, 22.50 m-wide, 2,250 ton midship section was built by Schichau Seebeck Shipyard in Bremerhaven under subcontract to Blohm + Voss Repair and floated into the Hamburg shipyard on April 6. It will increase the passenger capacity of the cruise liner from 900 to 950. In early July, the converted v will leave Blohm + Voss Repair for short sea trials prior to being handed over to Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines in Southampton, Great Britain.
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Va. Tech Research Focused on Ship Stability
Saving lives and ships by improving the stability and safety of sea-going vessels is the goal of Virginia Tech College of Engineering researcher Leigh McCue, who has won two grants to support her research. McCue, an assistant professor in Virginia Tech's Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering (http://www.aoe.vt.edu/), has received a $410,000 Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award from the National Science
June 2008
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